Spinning a Good Yarn
by TheFreakWithTheWings
Summary: How the Avengers Crochet Club got started.


I was just having a lot of feelings about Bucky, which led to fic.

0o0o0

Bucky was twelve and Becca eight when their ma taught them how to crochet. His first attempt at a scarf wasn't very good: his stitches were either too tight or too loose and he kept forgetting how many were in each row, but Becca was worse. She managed to somehow work a knot into her scarf that wouldn't come untangled no matter how much she pulled on it.

When George Barnes came home and saw what they were doing he sighed in disapproval but said nothing; he knew better than to get on Winifred's bad side.

Bucky gave the scarf to Steve, but his friend's pale skin turned bright red where the scarf touched it. As it turns out, Steve was allergic to wool.

He gave the scarf to his pa instead and forgot about crochet and yarn.

0o0o0

There was a lot of hurry up and then wait in the war. Hurry up and get there and then wait for Hydra or an informant or whatever. At first, the waiting times were filled with stories and teasing, but there were only so many times Bucky could hear about how Dugan almost got his leg gnawed off by a rabid squirrel before wanting to strangle the man. So, the next time they had leave Bucky procured a crochet hook and yarn.

His first attempt was worse than that first scarf he had made more than a decade ago, and he could only remember the chain stitch and single crochet, but it gave him something to do.

He slowly improved, and eventually every Howling Commando had a handmade scarf to keep warm.

Steve had three.

0o0o0

He finds Steve after the mess in Sokovia, and he becomes one of the many residents in the Avenger's Facility. Bucky knows that some of them are expecting him to join the team once he feels up to it, but he's had a lifetime of fighting and killing already. He doesn't want to do that anymore.

Before the war, Bucky loved science and science fiction, and he discovered that he still does now. He begins hanging around Dr. Foster's lab because what she does is just so fascinating, like something out of a book he read as a kid, portals and aliens. Her assistant, Darcy Lewis, usually explains what's going on whenever she can, but Bucky can tell that a lot of it goes over her head too.

Then one day while they're waiting for data to collect, Darcy pulls out a green ball of yarn and a crochet hook.

"I hope you don't mind," she says as she starts to crochet, "It's just that my nephew's birthday is coming up."

"Got an extra hook in there, doll?" he asks.

She lights up. "Oh, you know how to crochet? Yeah, hang on a sec. How do you feel about an H hook?"

Bucky shrugs, so she digs out a purple skein of yarn and a hook and passes them to him. It's rough at first, but Darcy patiently helps him through it. The next day she teaches him half double and double stitch, and soon enough it becomes a daily thing.

They begin meeting in one of the common rooms for an hour or so everyday just to crochet and relax, usually with Netflix on in the background. It's soothing, and creating things- scarves and hats and blankets and little dolls- makes him feel proud and happy.

Sam is the first one to comment, and he does it while Bucky is working on his first amigurumi.

"When did you learn how to knit, Barnes?" he asks.

Darcy explodes.

"It's crochet, not knit. There is actually a huge difference, okay, and knitting is for the criminally insane. There's so many different tools that you need to make different projects and if you drop a stitch you're basically screwed, and crocheting is just way better. I don't understand why knitting is so popular. Is it because there's one less syllable? Why?" she rants.

Bucky and Sam look at her with wide eyes.

"Sorry," she huffs. "You aren't the first person to call it knitting, and I don't blame you if you don't know the difference."

"Nah, it's okay," Sam says, eyeing her warily. "What're you guys making?"

"A hippo," Bucky says, studying the pattern in the book.

"Matching blankets for the twins," Darcy replies. "Do you wanna learn?"

And so their little group grows to three members.


End file.
